This disclosure generally relates to online systems, and in particular to transmitting notifications to online system users.
Third party systems may provide applications to users to increase user engagement, revenue, and other goals. To distribute an application to users, third party systems may provide users with access to a link to download a client application in an advertisement or another type of message. By accessing the link, the application is downloaded from the third party system or from another source and installed on the client device from which the application was accessed.
However, users typically use multiple devices when accessing online content. For example, users may access online content from a desktop computer as well as a mobile device, such as a smart phone. Hence, a user may be presented with a link to download a client application for a device different than the device used by the user to access the link. In this scenario, the user is unable to download the application by simply accessing the link. However, sending multiple messages identifying an application to different devices may inundate a user, potentially discouraging the user from installing the application.